The 5-9 anxiety peak is not a personal verdict — it is Central Asia’s highest 2023 group rate

You arrived looking for the anxiety figures by age in Central Asia.

The 2023 pattern starts high among ages 5-9, falls through young adulthood, then rises again from middle age.

Does that pattern describe one person’s experience? The answer comes later, because these figures describe groups across Central Asia rather than a diagnosis for any single reader.

The GBD 2023 results report three different views: people living with anxiety disorders, new cases per year, and total disease burden measured in DALYs.

Reading those measures separately makes the age pattern easier to understand.

Before the sections open, the figures this page stands on — each one carrying its own source.

What the 2023 Central Asia anxiety figures measure

The reader who arrived with an age question usually wants one clear line. The figures give several lines, because prevalence, incidence, and DALYs answer different questions.

Prevalence counts people living with anxiety disorders in each age group. The Central Asia figures include both sexes and refer to 2023.

Incidence reports new cases per year. Its rate uses the same age bands and is expressed per 100,000 people.

DALYs report total disease burden for the age group. The dataset gives both a number and a rate per 100,000.

Those measures should stay separate. A larger count can reflect the size of an age group, while a rate allows age bands to be compared more directly.

Across the listed ages, prevalence reaches its highest rate at ages 5-9. Incidence also reaches its highest rate there.

For the reader trying to place one experience on this chart, the central point is simple: age changes the group pattern, while the chart cannot classify an individual case.

Why ages 5-9 stand out in the Central Asia rates

If the reader is checking a child’s age against the chart, the 5-9 band deserves close attention. It carries the highest prevalence and incidence rates among the listed groups.

The prevalence rate for ages 5-9 reaches 4,639 per 100,000, or about 4.6%. The incidence rate reaches 796 per 100,000.

The next older band, ages 10-14, records a prevalence rate of 5,127 per 100,000 and an incidence rate of 478 per 100,000.

That detail matters because the two measures move differently. Prevalence rises from ages 5-9 to ages 10-14, while incidence falls.

People living with anxiety disorders number about 468,000 among ages 5-9. Ages 10-14 account for about 470,000 people living with anxiety disorders.

The counts sit close together even though the rates differ. Counts and rates therefore tell different parts of the same age story.

At ages 2-4, the prevalence rate stands at 225 per 100,000, or about 0.2%. The incidence rate stands at 256 per 100,000.

For this reader, the safest reading is a population pattern around early and middle childhood. It cannot explain why any particular child feels anxious.

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How anxiety rates change from ages 10-14 to 30-34

A reader comparing school-age years with early adulthood sees a steady decline after the older childhood bands. The recorded rates fall across several age groups.

Prevalence moves from 5,127 per 100,000 at ages 10-14 to 4,360 per 100,000 at ages 15-19.

It then reaches 3,544 per 100,000 at ages 20-24 and 3,230 per 100,000 at ages 25-29.

By ages 30-34, the prevalence rate records 3,044 per 100,000, or about 3.0%. The listed count reaches about 248,000 people.

Incidence follows a similar direction. The rate drops from 478 per 100,000 at ages 10-14 to 335 per 100,000 at ages 15-19.

For ages 20-24, the incidence rate records 274 per 100,000. Ages 25-29 record 265 per 100,000, and ages 30-34 record 262 per 100,000.

The counts also decline across these bands, from about 328,000 new cases per year at ages 15-19 to about 19,000 at ages 20-24 and about 19,000 at ages 25-29.

Those numbers describe the measured Central Asia pattern. They do not establish that anxiety always improves with age or that a personal change follows the group trend.

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Where the rates reach their lowest point

For the reader looking at the middle of the age range, the lowest recorded prevalence rates cluster around ages 35-44.

Ages 35-39 show 2,984 per 100,000, or about 3.0%. Ages 40-44 show 2,995 per 100,000, also about 3.0%.

The incidence rates in those bands are 264 per 100,000 for ages 35-39 and 275 per 100,000 for ages 40-44.

The DALY rates are 354 per 100,000 in both groups. Their total disease burden figures are about 27,000 and about 23,000.

These are small differences in the prevalence rate. The figures support a low point across this part of the chart, rather than a sharp break between the two age groups.

Ages 30-34 sit slightly higher on prevalence at 3,044 per 100,000. Ages 45-49 rise to 3,112 per 100,000, or about 3.1%.

For someone in these age bands, the chart offers context about the regional estimate. It cannot show the cause of the small changes between neighboring groups.

The age bands also cover five-year spans. A person near a boundary could appear in a different group after a birthday, even though their own feelings changed little.

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Why the pattern rises again after age 40

The reader who expected the rates to keep falling sees a different pattern after ages 35-44. Prevalence rises through the later listed groups.

At ages 45-49, the prevalence rate reaches 3,112 per 100,000. It rises to 3,296 per 100,000 at ages 50-54.

The rate reaches 3,486 per 100,000 at ages 55-59 and 3,723 per 100,000 at ages 60-64.

Incidence follows the same later-life direction. The rates move from 293 per 100,000 at ages 45-49 to 310 per 100,000 at ages 50-54.

Ages 55-59 record 325 per 100,000, while ages 60-64 record 348 per 100,000.

DALY rates rise as well.

They record 364 per 100,000 at ages 45-49, 381 per 100,000 at ages 50-54, 397 per 100,000 at ages 55-59, and 417 per 100,000 at ages 60-64.

The listed counts move in a different way. About 172,000 people aged 45-49 live with anxiety disorders, compared with about 161,000 among ages 60-64.

This is why rates matter for comparison. The number of people in a group and the rate within that group can point in different directions.

For the reader asking whether anxiety belongs only to childhood or youth, the later rise answers plainly: the 2023 rates rise again after the middle-age low point.

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What the new-case figures add to the age story

A reader focused on recent onset may look first at new cases. Incidence adds movement to the prevalence picture without replacing it.

The ages 5-9 group records about 80,000 new cases per year. Its incidence rate is 796 per 100,000.

Ages 10-14 record about 44,000 new cases per year, with an incidence rate of 478 per 100,000.

Among ages 15-19, the figures show about 25,000 new cases per year and 335 per 100,000.

Ages 20-24 show about 19,000 and 274 per 100,000.

Ages 25-29 also show about 19,000 new cases per year, while the rate falls to 265 per 100,000.

After ages 30-34, the annual counts move from about 21,000 to about 20,000 at ages 35-39, then about 18,000 at ages 40-44.

The later groups each record about 16,000, about 15,000, about 15,000, and about 15,000 new cases per year from ages 45-49 through 60-64.

The age-specific rates still rise across those later groups. That difference shows why a count alone cannot answer how common new cases are within each age band.

For the reader tracking a recent change, these estimates describe new cases across a year. They do not date the onset of one person’s anxiety.

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What the wider research adds for younger people

The reader comparing Central Asia with a wider child and adolescent picture finds a separate estimate from a meta-analysis.

That review combined 41 studies across 27 countries. It reported worldwide prevalence of any anxiety disorder among children and adolescents at 6.5%.

The review also reported depression at 2.6% and ADHD at 3.4%. Those figures describe the review’s worldwide sample.

They do not replace the Central Asia estimates. The GBD figures cover specific age bands, both sexes, Central Asia, and 2023.

The two sources also answer different research questions. One reports a regional age pattern, while the other summarizes findings across studies and countries.

A separate finding concerns social anxiety disorder. Its median age of onset sits at about 13 years.

Roughly 75% of cases begin between ages 8 and 15, and the condition tends to follow a chronic course without treatment.

That onset finding concerns social anxiety disorder specifically. It should not be treated as the onset age for every anxiety disorder in the GBD chart.

Depression can also occur alongside anxiety.

In a US national sample, about 40% of people with depression met criteria for an anxiety disorder, while about 52% of people with an anxiety disorder met criteria for depression.

For this reader, the wider findings add context while keeping the boundaries clear. Different studies use different populations, conditions, and measures.

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What the age pattern can and cannot tell one reader

The reader who asked whether the Central Asia pattern holds for them now has the direct answer. The chart describes group rates, counts, and DALYs by age in 2023.

It shows the highest listed prevalence and incidence rates at ages 5-9. It shows lower prevalence through ages 35-44, followed by a rise through ages 60-64.

It also shows why the three measures need separate attention. Prevalence describes people living with anxiety disorders, incidence describes new cases per year, and DALYs describe total disease burden.

About 470,000 people aged 10-14 live with anxiety disorders in the estimate. The rate for that group is 5,127 per 100,000.

About 161,000 people aged 60-64 live with anxiety disorders. Their rate is 3,723 per 100,000.

Those examples show the difference between an age-group count and an age-specific rate. Neither figure can identify the reader’s diagnosis, cause, severity, or likely future course.

The honest conclusion stays close to the evidence.

Anxiety appears across every listed age band in Central Asia, with a high childhood rate, a lower middle-age range, and a later rise.

That pattern can help a reader understand the chart they came to find. A personal assessment requires information outside these population estimates.

The 7 phrases in the titles point to the same measured result: anxiety by age in Central Asia, reported for 2023, with the strongest recorded rates among ages 5-9.

This is general information about the mind, not therapy or a diagnosis. If things feel hard, please consult a professional. In a crisis, reach a free, confidential crisis hotline right away; findahelpline.com lists one for your country.